Joseph Rose/The OregonianKyle Meagher talked to reporters at his mother's Michigan home today.

LANSING, Mich. -- "Let's not have any conflict here. Let's not have any problems."

Kyle Meagher remembers saying those words before being hit and knocked to the ground early Saturday in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

He says he was punched one time by a man he is convinced was Portland State basketball player Scott Morrison.

His face wrapped in bandages and his lower jaw full of hardware, the 23-year-old community college student spoke to The Oregonian in his first formal interview since coming home. He sipped a milkshake at his mother's kitchen table while recounting his version of the events that briefly landed Morrison and Vikings teammate Jeremiah Dominguez in a Mexican jail, drew officials from three governments into discussions and garnered widespread media attention.

It all started, he says, around 2:45 a.m. Saturday in the middle of Marina Boulevard, between The Zoo and The Nowhere Bar in Cabo San Lucas. He'd wrapped his work chaperoning a group of college students on spring break at El Squid Roe and was headed back to the room he'd been keeping during his internship in this seaside resort town that teems with college students during spring break.

As he walked, he says, he noticed a scuffle about 20 yards away involving "a really tall guy, a short guy" and someone he identified as being part of his group because he was wearing a green bracelet.

He says he approached and tried to break it up. Then the tall guy -- whom he later identified by a picture as the 6-11 Morrison -- turned and knocked him out briefly with one solid punch to the jaw.

He came to moments later -- a cabdriver was helping him up, saying, "You OK? You OK?" -- and saw the tall guy and short guy running away.

Gushing from his mouth, blood covered his face, shirt and pants. He realized he was missing one tooth and a metal bridge from his mouth that was a remnant of wearing braces years earlier. Two teeth, still in his mouth, were loose.

Today in Lansing, the 6-foot man with piercing blue eyes peeled down his lower lip to reveal two titanium pieces holding those teeth in place. A closer look at his gums shows stiches, beyond which he and a doctor have said are eight screws holding his jaw together.